The present invention relates generally to liquid purification and more specifically to a portable water purification system designed to produce good quality drinking water.
There is today a great demand by the consuming public for high quality, better tasting drinking water. Due to the influence of diet on health, drinking water has now become to many the beverage of choice, substituting in large part drinking products high in sugar or laden with chemicals.
However, ordinary tap water is not always acceptable to consumers because of the alleged presence of impurities and, oftentimes, an unpleasant taste. Accordingly, many consumers are turning to purified, bottled water, as evidenced by numerous brands and varieties on sale in supermarkets and grocery stores.
In addition to producing a better quality, better tasting drinking product, it would seem advantageous if the product contained a higher concentration of calcium than that found in bottled waters available on the market. There is support in the medical profession that dietary calcium may play a role in the prevention of the debilitating bone disease of osteoporosis. This disorder, which results in a decrease of bone mass, is believed to be caused by a greater rate of bone resorption than of bone formation. It most commonly afflicts middle-aged and elderly people, especially women. Accordingly, drinking water containing calcium may prove beneficial in preventing this disease.
At present, a method of obtaining good quality drinking water fortified with calcium that does not involve the addition of chemicals has not yet been developed. It has been known to filter tap water through a particle filter and/or a carbon filter. Similarly, reverse osmosis membranes have been tried, as have ion exchange resins, to produce a better quality drinking water. However, the liquid resulting from such prior art methods may be undesirable because of the presence of biological impurities, added heavy metal from pipes, strange taste or odor, or because the water is completely without dissolved gases or salts that might be beneficial.